Ehtiopiam Agricultural Extension System -The Past Experience, Present Status and Future Direction
2014
Besha, D.B., Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Debre Zeit Research Center, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia | Park, D.B., Kongju National University, Kongju, Republic of Korea
Agricultural extension service in Ethiopia was started in early 1950s with mandate of transferring local research outputs and technologies to farmers, and importing technologies and improved practices from abroad. Extension service provided in this early time was limited to areas surrounding the experiment stations. Since then, Ethiopian Agricultural extension service has passed through at least five stages: the land grant extension system, the Comprehensive Package Programs, the Minimum Package Projects, the Peasant Agricultural Development Program, and the Participatory Demonstration and Training Extension System (PADETS). The comprehensive package extension program was initially implemented in selected pilot areas and eventually to be scaled up to cover about 90% of the farming community within 15-20 years time. The program used demonstration plots managed by development agents and used to train farmers organized through various field days. However, since all of these programs were operational in only small areas, the vast majority of the country was out of their reach. Through Participatory Demonstration and Training Extension System, the extension service in Ethiopia has come under the spotlight and government debates and external reviews are putting additional scrutiny on the system. Despite this long history, the system is still in its infancy in terms of coverage, communication and institutional pluralism. Currently in Ethiopia the Agricultural extension is provided primarily by the public sector, operating in a decentralized manner through which extension is implemented at the district level. Therefore, the main focus of this paper is to scrutinize the past, the present and the future Agricultural extension system in Ethiopia.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Korea Agricultural Science Digital Library