About 80 per cent of South Asia’s poor live in rural areas, most of whom depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture and rural development are the keys to eradicate poverty and create conditions for sustainable and equitable growth. South Asian agriculture faces several new challenges – ranging from a deteriorating natural resources base, climate change, and increasing deregulation of trade. Moreover, the sector is dominated by small farmers often with weak bargaining power and limited political voice. Women constitute the majority of agricultural labour in small-scale and subsistence farming in the region. Pluralistic, demand-driven and gender-responsive extension services that offer much broader support to rural producers, is critical for agricultural development and poverty reduction in South Asia. Though South Asian countries have a long history of organizing and reforming extension services, much more needs to be done to strengthen their capacities in order to deal with the rapidly evolving challenges in agriculture. Commitment to pluralism is central to the discussion on extension reforms as it is now widely accepted that no single actor or agency is best placed to offer the wide range of services required by rural communities. While several new approaches are being tried by assorted extension providers in the public, private, and NGO sector in different countries, these experiences are not shared due to the lack of a platform for sharing and networking among extension professionals in South Asia