Appraisal of Innovations in Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services in Cameroon

In view of the mounting challenges facing public provision of agricultural extension and advisory services in sub-Saharan Africa, participatory approaches, involving NGOs, the private sector and farmers' associations, have gained increasing importance in recent years as a third way to extension service delivery. This paper highlights the conceptual underpinnings of participatory extension and the challenges inherent in their design and implementation focusing on the impact of the Grass field Participatory and Decentralized Rural Development Project model in Cameroon. Lessons on best practices, future prospects and emerging questions on the new roles of agricultural extension and advisory services are highlighted. The methodology relied on case-oriented data from project evaluations, document analysis, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews. The paper concludes with the view that, for innovative extension approaches to have greater impact on agriculture and rural development, there is a need to identify extension systems that use the potential of the state for appropriate policy support, the private sector, NGOs, farmer associations and community-based organizations to create checks and balances to overcome the failures inherent in past extension models.