Traditional and Modern Perspectives in Agricultural Extension Practice in Nigeria

Abstract

Access to appropriate and timely agricultural extension services has remained an enduring input in the alleviation of rural poverty. A pluralistic approach to agricultural extension services by government, farmer-based organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and active participants in the agricultural value chain will help facilitate the needed advisory services in order to achieve improvement in livelihoods and reduce vulnerability. The exponential growth rate resulting in a population explosion, fast-rising vagaries in technology use, heightened increase in livelihood vulnerabilities and the impact of climate change; have further mandated the need for a holistic and urgent review of the method of extension service delivery. The training and visit system, on-farm visits, village meetings, pilot projects, farmer's field schools, and model villages are among the long-standing public extension approaches. In view of the foregoing, there is now an urgent need to appraise both the existing traditional and emerging modern methods. This article, therefore, reviewed and compared the two methods to see the possibility of blending the two so as to attain an improvement in livelihoods and national development. Therefore, the study recommends a decentralization of the mode of operation of agricultural extension according to farmers' needs for development in order to ensure sustainability and attain national development.