Global trends in agricultural extension: challenges facing Asia and the Pacific region

This was the Keynote paper presented at the FAO Regional Expert Consultation on Agricultural Extension, Research-Extension-Farmer Interface and Technology Transfer, held in Bangkok; 16-19 July 2002.

The changes in the working environment within which an organization functions, force the organization to make necessary adjustments if it wants to continue functioning efficiently. Without such adjustments, the organization will either collapse or will keep working inefficiently, moving gradually towards eventual obsoleteness. The changes in the working environment, which may be called "forces of change", vary in nature and scope, i.e. they could be political, technical, economic or social. They could be location specific, regional, national or global. The effects of these forces of change may be immediate, medium-term or long-term, and they may be direct or indirect. In response, the organization may make adjustments internally, externally, or both. National agricultural extension systems are no exception to this rule. They are also directly or indirectly affected by the changes and, in response, must make internal and external adjustments in order to keep functioning at the same or at higher level of efficiency.

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