Abstract
The extension strategy used by the CARE International in Kenya Agroforestry Extension Project (AEP) is described. This strategy is evaluated in terms of documented changes in farmer's agroforestry practices and the importance of AEP relative to other changes in economic incentives, institutional support, and land use and tenure rules for agroforestry. The project served mainly to increase awareness of the multipurpose potential of agroforestry, expand available technical options, and strengthen local institutions. Its ‘community-based’ extension approach was more suitable for local conditions than ‘commodity-based,’ ‘training-and-visit,’ ‘farming systems,’ or ‘media-based’ extension. Projects are encouraged to tailor extension design to local circumstances, use community participation to guide extension priorities, and use extensionists as catalysts and ‘information brokers’.
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Research undertaken while the author was a Principal Scientist at the International Council for Research in Agroforestry, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Scherr, S.J. The role of extension in agroforestry development: evidence from western Kenya. Agroforest Syst 18, 47–68 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114816
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114816