Mozambique's Experience In Building A National Extension System

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.