The role of agricultural extension services in socio-economic development of east Africa: A critical review

Diverse agricultural extension services and approaches have been pursued in east Africa with varying degrees of success. The paper explores the extent to which agriculture extension services provided by both public and private sector have been translated into meaningful social and economic development of farmers. Several dynamics in the pursuit of extension programmes include shortage of extension staff and poor working facilities, leading to inadequate capacity of unbalanced technologies and low participation of private sector were noticed. The paper outlines a number of recommendations including but not limited to strongly involve stakeholders in technology development and transfer. This will assist farmers identify their felt needs rather than the needs being determined by extension service providers.