Extension for sustainable agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean

Executive Summary

The objective was to suggest extension policies to promote the sustainability of agriculture in the region. The work was based on information on human, financial and physical resources devoted to extension, existing institutional frameworks and successful experiences identified in terms of the competitiveness, equity and sustainability of agriculture. IICA conducted a survey based on data generated by means of Internet surveys, interviews with key informants of programs identified as successful experiences and four sub regional studies in the Southern Cone, the Andean Region, Central America and the Caribbean countries. The sub regional analyses were based on institutional reports and interviews with staff of the institutions, users and related organizations. The information obtained was used to prepare a policy proposal document and invite experts from the region to make suggestions at the Project's Final Seminar, held at IICA Headquarters in Costa Rica on April 28 and 29, 2003. The project disseminated its processes and products through electronic and conventional means. Access to the information was kept open until January 2004 through the project's Internet portal, the information was copied onto CD-ROMs in response to requests from interested parties, and six workshops were held to disseminate the results, two in Costa Rica and four in Colombia.

The technological solution

This was a strategic research project that did not produce technological solutions but conceptual proposals aimed at strengthening institutional capacities in the field of rural extension. The proposals, which could be valid today in a general way, were formulated in a context of active privatization of extension systems and the retrenchment of the state as a provider of these services. The current situation is different, with the resurgence of state extension services.

Results

Beneficiaries

To identify beneficiaries it is important to take into account the context and nature of the extension services that in the years of project implementation were strongly influenced by the privatization of rural extension. In that context, the beneficiaries were (i) the governments of the countries in the four sub regions covered by the study, responsible for the formulation of rural extension policies; (ii) organizations promoting extension services; (iii) enterprises providing extension services; and (vi) farmers, as users of the extension systems.

Sustainable Development Goals

Main donors