International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue IX, September 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
Short communication: It’s always agricultural extension, what about agribusiness extension?
Apollo Uma
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Egerton University, P.O Box 20115, Nakuru-Kenya
Abstract: The underdevelopment of agriculture and rural communities of Africa has for long been attributed to inadequate extension service delivery. Thus, strengthening agricultural extension is a recommendation that still attracts significant attention in today’s interventions targeting agriculture and related sub-sectors. Africa has seen enormous failures in the adoption of agricultural technologies over time. Unfortunately, the same recommendation still exists. Agricultural extension in Africa is synonymous to good agronomic practices. This half-baked understanding can be attributed to the training received from higher institutions of learning. Consequently, adoption of improved agricultural technologies is still very limited among. This is because smallholder farmers sometimes don’t see the business sense in some of these technologies. Agricultural and agribusiness extension as a single combined program offered by higher institutions of learning in Africa can be the answer to challenges facing agricultural extension.
Keywords: Agricultural extension, Agribusiness extension, Agronomic Techniques, Agronomic knowledge, Extension workers, Change agents.
I. INTRODUCTION
Strengthening agricultural extension is a recommendation that cuts across almost all agricultural-related interventions from time immemorial. It is sad that the same recommendation still attracts significant attention in today’s interventions targeting agriculture and related sub-sectors. It seems no one has bothered to find out why the same recommendations that existed before the current agricultural practitioners were born is still being pushed for.
One may argue that those who extended agricultural knowledge in the olden days lacked the skills, and perhaps had very limited exposure to agricultural technologies compared to the current agriculture extension workers. Africa in particular has seen enormous failures in the adoption of agricultural technologies over time. The same problem still exists in the current agricultural space. Unfortunately, the same recommendation, “strengthen agricultural extension” still exists. What if the problem rotates around the content that agriculture extension workers are taught?
Danso-Abbeam et al. (2018) define agricultural extension as a system that ought to facilitate farmers, their organizations and other market actors to information and technologies; knowledge, interaction with research institutions, education, agribusiness; and helping them to develop managerial and organisational skills. Syngenta (2022) defines agricultural extension as a process through which farmers in developing countries are given knowledge about agronomic practices and