Article reprints (US $5/each) may be obtained by contacting the Academic Editor.
- Roling, N. Extension Science: Haven't We Come of Age.
- Antholt, C. H. Agricultural Extension: Some Concepts to be Used and Some to be Set-aside: Issues to be Discussed and Ideas to be pursued.
- Westermarck, H. Professional Development: Through Synergistic Extension Training Programs.
- Verma, O. S. & N. Mehrotra. Indian Rural Women: Attitude Orientation Towards Dowry System.
- Blum, A. & M. Isaak. Adaptation of the Training and Visit Extension System to Changing Socio-Cultural and Agro-Ecological Conditions.
- Mpachika, E. D., L. D. Lawrence, K. S. Odell & S. A. Gartin. Contact Farmers Voice Opinions: T & V System of Extension in Malavi.
- Hassanullah, M. Selective Client Approach in Extension Work: A Study of Contact Farmers in Bangladesh.
- Gustafson, D. J. Developing Extension within a Complex Institutional Arena: Perspectives from Public Administration and Public Choice Theory.
- Igodan, C. O., M. M. Gwary & J. A. Ekpere. Critical Skills and Competency Needs of Extension Agents: Evidence from Nigeria.
For quite some time, the pressure was mounting on the Editor to release the reactions of extension professionals towards JES performance. The excerpts drawn from the letters of those who matter in extension fraternity are presented in this editorial. The policy of JES Management is to print realities without fear, favour, or fervour: The 3 Fs.
Prof. Layle D. Lawrence, Professor and Chair, Department of Agricultural Education, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA:
This journal is filling a definite void that has existed in Extension reporting. Our Faculty at West Virginia University has found the journal to be of great interest and value in dealing with the various aspects of Extension, and particularly in the International characteristics of Extension systems. We have certainly made a good use of JES in our extension classes and you have certainly undertaken a tremendous job in the journal. I know that serving as editor of such a publication is a gigantic task, and we commend you for your efforts. I do want to tell you how much I have enjoyed your series of articles regarding faculty (Scientist) productivity. This is certainly a problem all faculties must grapple with, and I believe you have made some inroads into creating objective evaluations. I want to commend you once again on your efforts to make the journal a success. I look forward to receiving each issue, and find articles to be of great value in course I teach and as reference material for graduate students. You are really making a great contribution to the profession. We certainly enjoy every issue of the journal. Keep up the good work. We will continue to support to your efforts to the best of our ability.
Prof. Herbert F. Lionberger: Emeritus Professor, Department of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri, USA:
If the editor can develop the journal along systems issue lines, it can become a very useful instrument for information and exchange where as far as I know none exists. I had an opportunity to read articles in the June 1986 issue of JES. I liked what I saw. Selections are of good quality and mix with a good international flavour. An editorial job well-done on both the journal and my paper. Editorial treatment given to my paper reminded me of imperfections that I should have detected. Thanks for the very thoughtful editorial revision of my paper. I have now read enough to be convinced that JES is indeed a very valuable (utilitarian) publication that lends itself very well to an extension-research system treatment. In today's context, the JES is best alternative. The contributions are confined quite exclusively to the "Systems" objective. I am exposed to the good ideas of some of the authors whose papers appeared in JES. I am writing this letter (30th September, 1987) simply to congratulate you on your selection of articles in June-1987 issue of the journal. The article titles truly reflect the very much needed systems orientation. We are fortunate to see Prof. Niels Roling on the Editorial Board as its Chairman. As a sound academician with a wealth of extension-type experience, he will be a great force in keeping quality articles on course. I can, however, understand that there may be some flak from some of the Extension colleagues if they perceive of this journal as just another one dealing with extension methods. If it can contribute to a special niche, fears and criticisms should be allayed somewhat.
Dr. Ir. A.W. Van den Ben: Gen. Foulkesweg 82A, 6703 Bx Wageningen, The Netherlands:
In general, I like JES. It has a somewhat more journalistic approach than most scientific journals, which certainly for this title is good in my opinion. I would like to see some book-reviews in JES. It is often difficult to keep informed about new publications, certainly for readers in developing countries. A difficulty might be that critical reviews are more useful to the readers than praising reviews, what is not the tradition in India. The quality of articles which are submitted must create some problems to you. I have mailed some reprints of my article published in JES and I got a number of favourable reactions as also some requests for more information about the journal. I was sorry to hear that Agricultural Administration and Extension will stop publishing by the end of 1988. I wish you all the best, both personally and with your journal.
Dr. Edgar J. Boone: Head of Adult and Community College Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA:
I want you to know that I support very much your excellent Journal of Extension Systems. I have read with much interest the splendid articles that you have published in your journal. I plan to use some of the articles as references in my famous graduate level course " The Programming Process in Adult and Community College Education". You and your colleagues are really producing an outstanding publication. You are especially doing a great job with the journal. I wish for you much success in both your personal and professional activities. I deem it a privilege and honour to be your colleague. It would be great if you could visit us sometime in North Carolina. Dr. Paul Leagans speaks very highly of you and your outstanding work.
Prof. Maurice Rolls, Director, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, The University of Reading, U.K.:
I am impressed by the standard of JES, I have always been depressed by the lack of other journals of quality in the field of Extension. I am flattered to be asked to join Editorial Board of the Journal and I am pleased to be associated with it and Niels Roling. The Journal would be of great interest to students from all over the world attending taught classes here at Reading University. I should be grateful for any assistance you may be able to offer us in any way.
Dr. Michael M. Cernea: Sociology Advisor, World Bank, Washington D.C., USA:
My colleague Dr. Max K. Lowdermilk sent me information about JES. Let me first commend you for the initiative in starting this publication and express my hope that it will be successful for both research and practical purposes. You have put together a fine group of specialists in the Editorial Board and I am also pleased and honoured to join it. I am also pleased with the substantial progress the journal is making under your direction: contents are really rich containing an" extension menu" appealing to all intellectual tastes, needs, and interests. I was also gratified to find the book-review which you wrote on my book "Putting People First". Particularly interesting to me are the comments which relate the book to the Indian context. These are the types of comments an author is most interested in. Your points are very well taken and I am thankful for the time you took to write this book-review. The June, 1989 issue is rich and very substantive, congratulations. Wish you, once again, further success with JES which I helped so far and will continue to help in, the future.
Prof. Burton E. Swanson: Professor-INTERPACKS, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA:
I am pleased to be considered as a Member of the JES Editorial Board. Please let me know if I can be of any help to you. It pleases met o, see increased attention being given to scholarly journals devoted to the area of Extension education. I think this need is long overdue in being served and I look forward to cooperating with you and other members of the JES editorial board as we work to improve the theory and practice of Extension
Dr. H. Stuart Hawkins: Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Extension, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia:
Please accept my best wishes for the continued production of a most useful contribution to international extension literature. My congratulations on another excellent collection of articles in June-1988 issue this time in higher quality binding. The paper by Sharma and Sharma on Crossbred cattle was particularly interesting as I am giving a paper on this very topic at a Meeting sponsored by the Australian Meat & Livestock Research and Development Council. The Council is concerned that the practice of cross-breeding has not been adopted extensively by Australian farmers. I am also investigating the effects of charging farmers fees for extension/ advisory services. I would be grateful for your advice if there are instances of this practice known to you in Asian region.
Dr. Max K. Lowdermilk: Coordinator, Colorado Institute for Irrigation Management, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA:
You are to be congratulated for the high quality you have achieved in your journal. I would like to have a long discussion with you about the status of Extension in India. I am now sending you a list of potential contributors, several from this list should be able to make some significant contributions especially Dr. Santopolo, Professor of Sociology, Colorado State University and Dr. Robert Bruce, Professor of Extension Education, Cornell University. In March, 1989, I am going to Egypt to work on a project of System Rehabilitation. As a Senior Social Scientist- Advisor, I will be involved in assisting Egyptian colleagues to help organise farmers and assisting in the establishment of an irrigation advisory service and water user organisations. Hope to have some time to write more about this project. We wish you and yours a very good year. Let's keep in touch.
Dr. William M. Rivera: Director, Centre for International Extension Development, The University of Maryland, USA:
It is gratifying to know that you and your committee found my article of value, and I look forward to receiving copies of the journal for my own reference and for that of my students. I am informing my students, of your interest in receiving their thesis and research papers which suit the nature of your journal. I am hoping that within the next several years, we will have a number of submissions for your excellent journal. The December-1988 issue arrived and I was pleased with the presentation of my paper. My regards to Dr. Niels Roling when you write to him. Thanks for your interest and continued collaboration.
Dr. Richard M. Mkandawire: University of Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi:
The journal is definitely very relevant to most of us in the field of Rural Development and my students and other colleagues will benefit from the wide range of articles published. I would be most obliged to get a copy of the journal. Prof. T.J. Bembridge, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, South Africa: I will be pleased to submit an article for the JES, congratulations on your excellent journal.
Dr. K.E. Wellington: Agricultural Director, Alcan Jamaica Company, West Indies. I have introduced the journal to our Ministry of Agriculture and the University of West Indies as also those persons who I think should be interested. On a personal note, I do find the articles published so far to be of intellectually stimulating, and hope that the contributions from the West Indies will add to coverage.
Dr. P.M. Shingi: Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad: My congratulations for initiating an excellent Journal of Extension Systems. I was extremely happy to go through the 5th Volume-1989.
Dr. Robert L. Bruce: Professor of Extension Education, Cornell University, Ithaca USA: I have recommended the journal for adoption at the University of South Specific as well as here at Cornell University. Every one to whom I have shown it, has been impressed. I am looking forward to receiving JES issues.Dr. Niels Roling, Professor and Chairman, Department of Extension Science, Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands:
The experience with Indian Journal of Extension Education is that it is difficult for foreign subscribers to obtain it. Sometimes, the only way to obtain it is to go to Delhi and collect it yourself. I am sure this will not happen with Journal of Extension Systems. I want to congratulate you with your initiative. I am very proud and indeed honoured to be on the Editorial Board as its Chairman. I will do my utmost best to serve the JES and make it become useful for our professional colleagues and ourselves. As we are aware, Journal of Extension systems, is now virtually the only serious journal left in the international market. With the folding of Agricultural Administration and Extension in January, 1989, we, as professionals, do not any longer have a form for our publications. I think we must pick up this challenge and step into the greater market now available. If there is anything that I can do to remove some of the bottlenecks, I would like you to inform me. I think there is a real serious need for a refereed journal in Extension Science. I believe that a number of important developments are taking place around the world. The World Bank is beginning seriously question its approach to Extension so far and in various other places the traditional extension service in between research and farmers is becoming under question. We seem to have gotten into a habit of not responding very promptly to each others' correspondence. This time, I feel particularly ashamed because of the efforts you have made, on my behalf to get my article in publishable form and to write an abstract and editorial. The thing with letters which require special attention is that one puts them aside for when one has the time for the attention required, and then, all kind of things start happening which are more urgent than that they are priorities and so one thing leads to another. I am very sorry and please accept my apologies. Thank you very much again for your efforts.
Roling, N. Extension Science: Haven't We Come of Age, 12-15.
Extension Science is a body of knowledge on which extension practitioner draws to make effective interventions. Extension is thus 'Interventology': the science of intervening into the social processes to achieve outcomes deemed desirable by the change agent. In addition, expansion of sectors has posed even greater problems for which extension requires a well-developed Extension Science. Extension is not a special pedagogy of agriculture. It also deals with sectors like health, energy conservation, pollution control, nutrition, consumer education, rural development, and so on. To handle a variety of interventions in these many different sectors, it requires much more of extension science: The Intensive Practice.
Antholt, C. H. Agricultural Extension: Some Concepts to be Used and Some to be Set-aside: Issues to be Discussed and Ideas to be pursued, 16-21.
This article is a "Think-Piece" which can probably provide the clue as to where Extension now needs to go. Whereas several out-dated concepts need to be thrown away, several others of recent origin need to be used with great care. The emergence of this duality has raised many issues which will perhaps occupy much of our attention in nineties. A set of thought-provoking ideas of general concern are discussed here in this direction that must be addressed and reinforced.
Westermarck, H. Professional Development: Through Synergistic Extension Training Programs, 22-32.
Resistance to change is a phenomenon which should be welcomed with gesture. Information technology might probably help in mitigating all sorts of resistances. Extensionists, therefore, need to be efficient in using and adapting the new technology. Extension Directors can play both as Manager and the Leader in this environment. They need to promote international cooperation for professional development through synergistic training programs such as International Summer Schools, Video Conferences, and Study Groups. Similarly, there is a strong need of some International Organization for Extension Scientists. The initiative taken to establish IRGI (International Research Group in Extension) at the time of 1988 World Rural Sociology Conference at Bologna, Italy, is a right step in this direction. In addition, professional extension journals too need to be strengthened as they are important avenues for professional development.
Verma, O. S. & N. Mehrotra. Indian Rural Women: Attitude Orientation Towards Dowry System, 33-44.
Of the several violences against women, dowry deaths has become a most heinous crime these days especially in India. In 1987 alone, there were 1639 dowry victims, The, figure has increased by 65 per cent since then. Stringent laws are not enough to check this menace. The change in attitude orientation has to be driven home. This requires a systematic attempt to induce, introduce, instigate, and plan through various means, methods, and media. Before initiation of such a programme, however, it would be worthwhile if attitude orientation of the people towards dowry systems is known beforehand. The present study is drawn out of this stigma. For studying attitude orientation, a scale termed as "Dowry Systems Orientation Scale (DSO-Scate)" was devised with the help of Thurstone's Paired Comparison Technique. This scale was applied to 100 women respondents who were drawn from three villages of Bhojipura Block of Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh. The attitude score for all the 100 respondents were computed arid attitude location on dowry systems orientation scale continuum was fixed either Favourable, Neutral, Unfavourable. Then, percentage analysis was carried out through six independent personal factors. On the whole, 55 per cent women are found to have favourable attitude towards dowry system. Younger generation is found to have opposed the dowry. It is the middle age group where 63.20 per cent women are prone to dowry who mainly belong to upper caste communities. Nuclear families exercised dowry more than joint families. Surprisingly, it is not the "Dadima" who voiced mote for dowry but the daughters-in-law. Similarly, it is not the illiterates who favoured dowry the most but literates and neoliterates. So is the case with big land owners where 70 per cent of women supported the institution of dowry system. All these accounts apparently reveal that the privilege groups are more sensitive to give and take of dowry. This is where the change in attitude is most warranted.
Blum, A. & M. Isaak. Adaptation of the Training and Visit Extension System to Changing Socio-Cultural and Agro-Ecological Conditions, 45-66.
The Training and Visit (T&V) extension system was developed in Turkey, based on the Israeli experience of the developer, and was further refined in India. It was later adopted by many countries in South East Asia, Africa and other parts of the world. Experience showed the necessity to adapt the system to the very different socio-cultural and agro-economical conditions of the adopting countries. A number of these adaptations from a wide array of countries are discussed. In many cases useful, adaptive solutions were found, but in others the T&V system was adopted without the necessary adaptations. It is suggested to develop an adaptation checklist which will help especially less experienced, potential T&V adaptors to make the needed alterations.
Mpachika, E. D., L. D. Lawrence, K. S. Odell & S. A. Gartin. Contact Farmers Voice Opinions: T & V System of Extension in Malavi, 67-73.
Studies of Training and Visit system effectiveness have been largely based upon perceptions of extension workers. Because of a neglect of the perceptions, experiences, and reactions of the people who themselves are supposedly the recipients of extension efforts, this study was designed to investigate perceptions of those being served, the contact farmers in Malawi. Data collected from 120 contact farmers show general satisfaction with the system as a means of technology transfer. Perceptions of successes and problems are presented. Suggestions to strengthen effectiveness of the system are offered.
Hassanullah, M. Selective Client Approach in Extension Work: A Study of Contact Farmers in Bangladesh, 74-86.
Model farmers, supervised farmers, group leaders, or lay leaders are all other names of "Contact Farmers". Extension Systems work through these selected farmers with an assumption that others will learn from them. The findings of this study, however, show that contact farmers have neither any scope nor competence to act as informal educators, They leave no multiplier effect on the participation and performance of other ordinary farmers. They rather tend to form a "Social-hard-pan" which blocks the free flow of knowledge and resource-laiden services of extension agent to other farmers. The idea of contact farmers to be the substitute for extension agents, is, therefore, not tenable. Institutionalization of their services in the form of a voluntary cadre as Informal Educators in between extension agents and the farmers is a futile proposition, These findings are drawn based on the data collected from 324 contact farmers and 563 ordinary farmers of Bangladesh.
Gustafson, D. J. Developing Extension within a Complex Institutional Arena: Perspectives from Public Administration and Public Choice Theory, 87-99.
Many important issues of extension system development parallel wider concerns of public policy and institutional development. This article examines key elements of the literature on dispersed responsibility and public sector management as they relate to the development of agricultural extension systems within a complex institutional arena of multiple providers-both public and private. Convergent themes of extension development and public administration and public choice theory are identified, with specific attention given to the privatization or commercialization of extension, and the role of the public sector in such arrangements,
Igodan, C. O., M. M. Gwary & J. A. Ekpere. Critical Skills and Competency Needs of Extension Agents: Evidence from Nigeria, 100-107.
The critical skills and competencies of extension agents needed in promoting innovations among farmers make the difference between success and failure in Nigeria's attempt to modernize the agricultural sector. Using essentially the method of self-appraisal (through questionnaire), the study identified a skill-competency package categorized into nine extension tasks areas in which extension agents were deficient and required further training. The findings showed that extension agents were more competent in the skill area of Extension Organization and Administration (x= 3.34; ranked 1 and least competent in Understanding Forestry, (x = 2.77; ranked 9). Skill areas agents indicated most competency was not necessarily the most important to them. In order words, there was no perfect match or convergence between skills and competencies presented and the importance of such skill areas for extension work.