Introduction to agricultural extension

Agricultural extension work has a venerable (extremely old), even though largely unrecorded, history. It is a significant social innovation (new idea or method), an important force in agricultural change, which has been created and recreated, adapted and developed over the centuries. Its evolution extends over nearly four thousand years, although its modern forms are largely a product of the past two centuries. Today, the organizations and personnel engaged in agricultural extension encompass a diverse range of socially sanctioned and legitimate activities which seek to enlarge and improve the abilities of farm people to adopt more appropriate and often new practices and to adjust to changing conditions and societal needs.