AN OVERVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES IN TURKEY

M. Boyaci, O. Yildiz

Abstract: In the study, public extension service is examined through data collected from 538 extension workers in nine agricultural provinces of Turkey. Turkish extension service is influenced by the general top down and training-visit approaches which were employed in the past. These approaches are mainly directed to conventional production and yield increase, by using a top-down process that gives little place for human resources development and sustainable agriculture. New opportunities of digital devices such as cell phones, internet, and e-mail are generally underutilized in farmer training. The local participation is not
at intended level during the formulation of extension activities in Turkey.

Keywords: agricultural extension; agricultural technology transfer; extension methods

Date published: 2017-08-28