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Three-quarters of the world’s poorest billion people live in rural areas, and the vast majority depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Encouraging the growth of the agricultural sector is therefore one of the most effective ways of tackling poverty. Smallholder farmers, fisherfolk and livestock keepers produce 50-80 per cent of the staple foods consumed in developing countries, yet many are inadequately served by research, extension and advisory services. Revitalising these services was the focus of a landmark conference held in Nairobi, Kenya in November 2011, the findings of which are summarised in this booklet.
Agricultural transformation and development are critical to the livelihoods of more than a billion small-scale farmers and other rural people in developing countries. Extension and advisory services play an important role in such transformation and can assist farmers with advice and information, brokering and facilitating innovations and relationships, and dealing with risks and disasters. Agricultural Extension: Global Status and Performance in Selected Countries provides a global overview of agricultural extension and advisory services, assesses and compares extension systems at the national and regional levels, examines the performance of extension approaches in a selected set of country cases, and shares lessons and policy insights. Drawing on both primary and secondary data, the book contributes to the literature on extension by applying a common and comprehensive framework — the “best-fit” approach — to assessments of extension systems, which allows for comparison across cases and geographies. Insights from the research support reforms — in governance, capacity, management, and advisory methods — to improve outcomes, enhance financial sustainability, and achieve greater scale. Agricultural Extension should be a valuable resource for policymakers, extension practitioners, and others concerned with agricultural development.
This publication contains twelve modules which cover a selection of major reform measures in agricultural extension being promulgated and implemented internationally, such as linking farmers to markets, making advisory services more demand-driven, promoting pluralistic advisory systems, and enhancing the role of advisory services within agricultural innovation systems. The reform issues consider the changing roles of the various public, private and non-governmental providers, and highlights the collaboration required to create synergies for more efficient and effective high quality services responding to the needs and demands of smallholder farmers. The modules draw on reform experiences worldwide and provide an introduction, definitions and a discussion for each specific reform measure, as well as case studies, tools, exercises and a reference list. The reform topics are envisaged for policy-makers, management and senior staff of institutions providing agricultural and rural advisory services. It can also be very useful for students studying agriculture, rural development, and extension in particular. This is a substantially updated version of the 2009 publication of the same title, but with only nine modules. These nine modules were restructured and up-dated, and three modules were added. The layout of the modules changed to allow a better overview for the reader.
Recommends the adoption of multiple strategies for agricultural extension and a flexible attitude by governments in addressing the issue. Agriculture contributes significantly to the growth of many developing countries. Its development is closely linked to several key interrelated factors such as infrastructure, research, extension, farm inputs, rural credit, price policies, and marketing. This paper examines agricultural extension within this context, drawing on a variety of ongoing cases throughout the world. The author stresses the need for governments to define a specific strategy for extension and to re-examine the role of the public sector.