Agricultural extension in Latin America: current dynamics of pluralistic advisory systems in heterogeneous contexts

摘要

Similar to other parts of the world, in Latin America agricultural extension systems1 have gained renewed attention in policy discourse and practice in recent years (Alemany and Sevilla-Guzmdn 2007; Aguirre 2012), in order to help achieve multiple goals, such as equitable rural development, transfer of technologies aimed at increasing agricultural productivity, food security and adaptation to climate change. Latin America provides an interesting context for studying the dynamics in extension systems,because (1) in many countries there are pluralistic extension systems with different types of providers and the state often has outsourced extension, (2) many countries have agricultural sectors consisting of both commercialized export-oriented agriculture by large farms and smallholder agriculture and (3) several innovative extension initiatives and proposals have been developed in the region drawing on local academic traditions, which can enrich the global debate on rural extension.