ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION IN ADOPTION OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PRACTICES

Abstract

Agricultural extension activities can facilitate the introduction of agricultural innovations to farmers and their adoption because agricultural extension services are the primary conduit through which many agricultural innovations are disseminated. Additionally, agricultural extension studies play a crucial role in boosting agricultural productivity and advancing the sector. It can be challenging to convince farmers to implement the suggestions made through extension programs. There is a recursive, mutually supportive cycle at work between the generation of new knowledge and its dissemination to farmers in a form they can understand through extension. The adoption of technologies over the long term is linked to extension policies. Contact with extension and attendance at training courses have been shown to be influential in the successful implementation of SAPs, according to a number of studies. This is not a positive sign for innovation adoption and transfer. Due to the low number of farmers who rely on the extension agents, it would appear that the extension service and agents are not performing their duties to promote sustainable agriculture in the region. Whether or not farmers adopt new technologies is contingent on the knowledge and expertise of extension workers and the quality of the information they receive. For instance, this could be because of limitations such as a lack of guidance for agricultural extension workers, which reduced farmers' access to information sources, or because the extension workers' methods of disseminating that information were insufficient or inappropriate for farmers' needs.