Perspective Chapter: Building Farmer Capacity through Agricultural Extension - A Model for True Capacity

Abstract

Key to implementing sustainable agricultural development and transformation interventions in rural areas lie in building farmer capacity. Capacity building embraces local farmer knowledge; builds local ownership of projects; and strengthen farmers’ resilience to improve sustainability of agricultural development programs. The execution of many capacity building programs brings to light that the role of extension in building farmer capacity remains unclear as extension is still centered primarily in technology transfer. This leads to the argument of this paper, which seeks to articulate the role of extension in building farmer capacity by clarifying and analyzing theoretical origin and characteristics of the concepts of ‘extension’ and ‘capacity building’. This study found that the role of extension in building farmer capacity goes beyond simply building capability to facilitating learning among all the stakeholders in the process thereby yielding favorable change in terms of skills, knowledge and access to and the opportunity to take command of and access to resources.