Agricultural extension is undergoing rapid change in many countries of the world, with a shift in funding and management from the public to the private sector. This is especially true in Africa, where donors from industrial countries, and more recently from middle-income developing countries such as Chile, have historically promoted and financed those extension models. Currently, African nations are being encouraged to import the Farmer Field school extension model that is meeting with some success in Asia. Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, became independent in 1975 but was wracked by civil war in the 1980s. Consequently, Mozambique was not able to establish its public extension service until 1987. Gemo, Eicher, and Teclemariam analyze the growth and evolution of extension provided by public, private, and NGO (local and international) sources in Mozambique during the seventeen years from 1987 to 2004. This work highlights the Mozambique's Ministry of Agriculture's drive to develop and test both local and imported extension models and to share its experience with other countries in Africa. Mozambique's Experience in Building a National Extension System will be of interest to African Ministries of Agriculture, agricultural extension managers, donors, NGOs, and teachers of extension courses in industrial and developing countries throughout the world.

Extensively revised to reflect the new directions in development thought and policy, this new edition of a classic text examines what has been learned theoretically and empirically about agricultural and rural economic development since the 1950s.

With 24 of the 35 chapters completely new, the book takes into account recent developments in international agricultural development, especially as these affected the role of the state, markets, and other institutions in development. The authors address three basic questions about agricultural development in low- and middle-income countries: What are the strategic roles of agriculture in national development strategies? How can the agrarian transformation be accelerated? How can rural economic development be promoted to generate jobs and reduce poverty in rural areas? In addressing these questions, the authors deal with topics such as market failures, food insecurity, rural poverty, environmental degradation, income and asset inequality, fiscally sustainable organizations, the changing roles of the public and private sector in research, and input and output marketing systems. Four case studies (China, Indonesia, Colombia, and Sub-Saharan Africa) examine how different countries struggle with these issues as they restructure their basic economic institutions.

Praise for previous editions:

"A welcome addition to the literature on agricultural development... with a wide coverage of its major considerations." -- Canadian Journal of Development Studies

"Presents the views of leading scholars on major theoretical and policy issues concerning agriculture's role in the Third World economies." -- Abstracts of Development Studies