Men and women have been growing grain and raising livestock for about 10,000 years. During this time, farmers continually adapted their technologies, evaluated the results, and shared what they had learned with other community members. Most of this communication took the form of verbal explanations and practical demonstrations, but some information took on a more permanent form once the writing systems were developed. Details about agricultural practices have been found in documents from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and China dating back more than 3,000 years. The continuing training of agricultural consultants has received little or no attention from governments or donors in recent years. Given that most farm advisory systems remain severely limited due to declining budget allocations, few, if any, resources are available to train current advisory staff in current agricultural technologies or systems, particularly for high-quality crops and products, or in the application of more participatory advisory methods. An immediate opportunity to transform most farm advisory systems would be a significant investment in human resource development (HRD) for the expansion`s field staff. Faculty and staff at agricultural schools and universities also need to be transformed and updated. Until recently, agricultural technologies were widely developed and disseminated by public research institutes. However, over the past 50 years, the private sector has played an increasingly important role in the manufacture and sale of proprietary technologies in the form of means of production such as hybrid seeds, pesticides and mechanical technologies. Over the past two decades, biotechnology has developed rapidly, especially as agriculture has become globalized and liberalized.
This development has stimulated private investment in agricultural research and the transfer of these technologies, which has increased the influence of national and multinational companies on the supply of new technologies, especially to commercial farmers. At the same time, the public sector continues to have an important role to play in monitoring these new technologies; conduct research to address important technology gaps that are not being filled by private sector firms, particularly for small and smallholder farmers; and in the further development and transfer of sustainable natural resource practices to all types of farmers. An innovation system can be defined as a network of organizations, companies and individuals focused on the economic use of new products, processes and organizational forms, as well as on the institutions and policies that influence their behavior and performance. The concept of agricultural innovation systems not only includes suppliers of new technologies, but also addresses the role and interaction of different actors within agricultural innovation systems, especially in connecting with new and emerging markets for different types of crops and high-quality products. The increasingly important players within AIS at the local level are innovative farmers who, through trial and error, successfully determine which crops/products and technologies are most profitable to supply different emerging markets. There is some disagreement as to whether the concept and name of “extension” really encompasses all four paradigms. Some experts believe that the term should be limited to persuasive approaches, while others believe that it should only be used for educational activities. Paulo Freire argued that the terms “extension” and “participation” are contradictory. [12] There are philosophical reasons behind these differences.
From a practical point of view, however, the communication processes corresponding to each of these four paradigms are currently organized under the name of enlargement in one part or the other of the world. Pragmatically, if not ideologically, all these activities are considered to be represented in agricultural expansion. Meeting the new and growing challenges of agricultural markets, technology and sustainability requires new thinking. Enlargement must now focus on agricultural advisory agencies in developing countries, which receive significant support from international development organisations such as the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Under a system of private advisory services, a private company (or NGO) is mandated by a government, donor or even a farmers` organization to provide various types of advisory services to farmers, but usually using government funds or donors (e.g. the NAADS model in Uganda). This approach uses the same basic tools and approaches as public expansion, but management has the ability to hire and lay off employees and create performance-based incentives, as well as provide adequate program and operating resources. As a result, the short-term performance of the SAP can be efficient and effective. However, this approach seems less viable in the long run, as policy changes (e.g. when another political party takes power) can have a direct impact on the availability of state resources.
In addition, donor funding is generally not long-term, and donor priorities may change, as evidenced by the World Bank`s investment in T&V`s expansion. For an overview of privatized advisory services, see Rivera and Alex 2004a and 2004b. The participatory farm management approach uses simple methods to allow smallholder farmers to work alone or with a facilitator, quantify and analyze their use of agricultural or domestic resources in order to assess the potential impact of various decisions on farm income. The methods can be used to assess the impact of a change in the current agricultural system on resources by diversifying into one or more new businesses and comparing the impact of these potential new businesses on farm resources and incomes compared to current firms. Ministries and departments of agriculture and agricultural research centres. Agricultural extension uses a number of different terms to describe specific concepts and approaches. As there are different schools of thought about how agricultural guidance systems should be organised and function, these different views can lead to interesting debates. It is important to agree on the most important functions, programs and tasks that need to be performed to achieve certain development goals. Second, it will be much easier to determine which organization(s) have a comparative advantage in the implementation of specific programmes and how these activities should be organised and implemented. With IfPRI`s Suresh Babu, Yuan and the many other contributors draw on concrete examples. These illustrate the role and capacity of private enterprises in knowledge sharing and intensification through agricultural expansion. The formulation of a strategic research and advisory plan includes the identification of agricultural systems and the resource base of farmers in a target area, as well as the identification of successes and failures of innovative farmers.
It is also about identifying farmers` problems and needs through the use of participatory rural assessment (PRA) techniques, and then analysing all this information using SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). In addition to farmer information, the SWOT analysis examines other important types of agricultural information, including (1) the different agroecological zones (AEZs) in the district (e.g., soil type/conditions; rainfall patterns; and irrigation water, including availability and cost), (2) transport infrastructure, and (3) markets available for all types of staple foods and high-quality crops and food products.