In recent years, agricultural advisory services have been the subject of renewed interest at the level of agricultural policies and development aid. Numerous development actors have taken up the issue of advice to farmers: professional agricultural organizations, government agencies, investors, agri-providers, NGOs, telephone companies, etc.

Questioning the meaning of agricultural advisory services in Africa today means looking at their forms, the needs of the beneficiaries they meet, the actors involved, both new and traditional, and the visions of agriculture they support in a context of state withdrawal and tensions over financial resources.

This issue of Grain de Sel, by confronting multiple points of view and knowledge, first reminds us that agricultural advisory services make sense for family farms and illustrates the multiple meanings of these services.