The process leading to an effective research extension partnership in sub-Sahara Africa is not yet well understood. The general tendency, however, is to seek for such strong linkage in some form of an institutionalized collaboration between these two complementary elements of agricultural development. Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, an informal, yet very effective person-to-person relationship among the leadership of the public extension service, the national agricultural research system, and an international NGO, has resulted in a reasonably good research extension linkage and, for that matter, has become cause for the initiation of a new round of agricultural revolution. Individuals from the Sasakawa-Global 2000 Agriculture Project, the extension service of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute of Agricultural Research started this informal partnership in April 1993 whereas the official agreement to launch the SG2000 project in the country was only signed five months later. As a result of this informal and non-bureaucratic cooperation among key players, agricultural extension service in Ethiopia has become greatly invigorated and is playing a very significant role in the country's drive to become food secure. The key to successful agricultural development in Africa, among others, thus, also lies in the presence of daring, duty-bound and visionary leadership in both public sector agricultural research and extension. Mission- bound, knowledgeable and non-bureaucratic external intervention would also further hasten this kind of collaborative effort aimed at agricultural development.

English

0103|AL-Maize Program|AGRIS 0102|AJ

Jose Juan Caballero

CIMMYT Publications Collection