DEAR SIR: I expected much from the Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP).

So when I recently enlisted for a farm forestry KTP, I was really looking forward to sharing experiences with a professional forester and fellow farmer foresters for two hours a week over the seven-week programme.

Sadly, at the outset things took a bad turn, which sullied the whole experience. Incredibly, the civil servant who designed the application form required that the one-page form be signed THREE times, on three consecutive lines. There is no logical purpose to this, unless it is that said civil servant does not trust facilitators to be honest in completing the attendance register.

This is a disgraceful slur on the integrity and professionalism of the course facilitators, all of whom are professional agriculturalists and foresters, most of whom regularly sign off on forestry grants for tens of thousands with just one signature.