Extension Services for Rural Development

Abstract

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, rural populations are faced with a number of opportunities that generations of farmers have only dreamed of. Rural extension services play a pivotal role in providing smallholders and other client groups with the information, knowledge, and qualifications required to exploit these emerging opportunities. Starting with a review of the evolution of concepts and paradigms in extension science and practice over the past decades, this chapter elaborates on the major cornerstones of successful rural extension work; viz. extension contents that help farmers understand the functioning of markets and improve market information and transparency; initiating and institutionalizing communication and horizontal exchange among farmers through group-oriented extension approaches; answering the manifold of information requirements and consulting needs of the diverse client groups; and designing organizational arrangements for extension that are equally effective and cost-effective. The chapter concludes by providing an outlook on the opportunities and limitations that extension services face in relation to rural development.