The Government of Ethiopia is highly committed to sustainably increasing agricultural production to meet the growing demand for food, industrial raw materials, and foreign currency earnings. In order to respond the growing demand of different stakeholders, there is a need of dynamic and proactive extension system. Rigorous and vibrant extension system is a key policy instrument for necessary behavioral and attitudinal changes and creating demands on national agricultural extension programs. Agricultural extension has been emphasized by development experts as crucial in achieving agricultural development, poverty reduction, and food security.  By recognizing this, the government of Ethiopia has made great efforts to transform the agricultural sector mainly by strengthening its extension services as part of the general agriculture policy reform. In spite of considerable efforts made to improve the extension system of the country in the past, the system is not bringing the desired results. Thus, it is of paramount importance to prepare a full-fledged extension strategy which takes into consideration the growing demand of agricultural development and that also shows the future direction of the extension services.

The Government of Uganda has in the past developed and invested in

various agricultural extension approaches and systems with varying

demand for human, capital and financial resources. The success has been

mixed and sometimes unsatisfactory. In June 2014, Government took a decision to re-structure the entire national agricultural extension system in order to address past weaknesses in extension services. This decision was based on the recommendations of the Cabinet Sub Committee Report (2014). The reforms dubbed as “Single Spine Extension System” included transfer of the extension function from the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) to the mainstream Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and the creation of a Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES); integration of the NAADS program into the local government production departments and eliminating the parallel institutional arrangements as well as separation of agricultural input supply from the extension service delivery system. In a bid to effectively implement the reforms, MAAIF has prioritized the formulation of an agricultural extension policy and strategy to guide implementation.

This paper describes a framework for improving the coordination of agricultural support services. The paper is based on a PhD study: Developing a framework for improving coordination in the provision of agricultural support services in the Oshikoto region of Namibia . Most of the information in the paper is drawn from the Namibian governance system, which was established through the Decentralisation Policy of 1997. It also makes use of data collected from 200 farmers and 11 agricultural support service providers from the Oshikoto region, who were interviewed during the Phd research. The paper includes an overview of the challenges and opportunities involved in operationalising an agricultural support service framework.

Las sistemas de extensión son la estrategia básica para incrementar la productividad, disminuir los costos unitarios, diversificar la producción, agregar valor, diferenciar las producciones, adecuarse a los estándares de calidad exigidos por el mercado y disminuir la inseguridad alimentaria. Para enfrentar este desafío se establece el Sistema Nacional de Innovación y Transferencia de Tecnología Agroalimentaria (SNITTA), que juega un rol crítico para el desarrollo de la competitividad del sector agrícola ya que significa transitar hacia un enfoque en el que predomina la innovación tecnológica y la asistencia continua orientada a resultados concretos. Debido a su importancia, se realiza este estudio, cuyo objetivo principal es ofrecer recomendaciones y propuestas de política tecnológica que contribuyan a mejorar los sistemas de extensión y transferencia de tecnología en