The U.S. Land-Grant Model and Other Examples

Summary of an International Seminar/Webinar
November 7, 2014

This year’s Centennial Anniversary Celebration of the U.S. Cooperative Extension System (CES) highlights the important outreach and service function that the CES continues to provide through the auspices of U.S. Land Grant Universities. With the growing interest in extension around the world – and in keeping with the Centennial Celebration - USDA/NIFA and GFRAS held a webinar to explore the future and potential role of a country’s higher education institution(s) in providing extension/advisory services. Presenters and participants in the webinar were asked to consider:

• What is the unique and critical role that your country’s universities can play in providing extension advisory services?
• How can your universities contribute to the sustainability of extension advisory services?
• What are the key challenges may face university-linked extension services in your country? How can they be overcome? What are the opportunities?

Working Paper by Fernando Landini

Sounkoura Sidibé Adethomah
IITA/Bénin

Andreas Oswald, Sani Miko, Abou Berthe
Sasakawa Africa Association, Japan

Ma. Luján Mongelós
Federacion de Cooperativas de Production LTDA - FECOPROD

Julio C. Catullo
National Institute of Agricultural Technology INTA, Argentina

Ma. Isabel Paredes
Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural, Chile

Julio C. Catullo
National Institute of Agricultural Technology INTA, Argentina

Ma. Isabel Paredes
Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural, Chile

Fernando Landini
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

O. Idowu Oladele
Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension. North West University, South Africa

Krishan Bheenick
Technical Centre for Agricultural & Rural Cooperation (CTA)

David J. Spielman and Simrin Makhija
International Food Policy Research Institute

Presentation held at the Furtue Agricultures Consortium, Institue of Development Studies from 6-7- December 2012.

This paper draws together experiences from across Asia to explore extension policy and the extension policy process. The paper argues that extension policy needs to tackle two major sets of issues. The first concerns the content in view of the broader role extension need to play in the present context of agriculture systems. The second issue concerns the nature of the policy process itself. Instead of prescribing reforms, the policy process should ideally facilitate continuous incremental change through experimentation, reflection and learning. Four cases are presented to illustrate the challenges involved in developing and implementing extension policy. The experiences indicate that reform processes only informed by prescriptions generated centrally or from outside are bound to fail. The message for extension policy in Asia is that the process of reform must be lead from within.