Premium
Changes in Agricultural Extension and Implications for Farmer Adoption of New Practices
Author(s) -
Norton George W.,
Alwang Jeffrey
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
applied economic perspectives and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.4
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 2040-5804
pISSN - 2040-5790
DOI - 10.1002/aepp.13008
Subject(s) - exploit , extension (predicate logic) , agricultural extension , information and communications technology , agriculture , business , government (linguistics) , emerging technologies , agricultural machinery , marketing , political science , computer science , geography , linguistics , philosophy , computer security , archaeology , artificial intelligence , law , programming language
Abstract Agricultural extension programs have changed significantly over the past four decades. What has changed and why? Have these changes affected adoption of innovations by farmers? What if anything should policy makers and extension agencies do differently, particularly in developing countries? Structural changes in agriculture, new types of agricultural technologies, tight public budgets, efforts to decentralize government, and emerging information and communication technologies (ICT) have led to pluralistic and, in some cases, lower‐cost extension and advisory services that combine public and private mechanisms for financing and implementing extension activities. Farmer groups and virtual networks play a growing role in technology diffusion, and extension services can exploit these networks using the latest ICT approaches .