Government Run vs. University Managed Agricultural Extension: A Review of Nepal, India and the United States

Aims: The creation of an agricultural extension system and its evolution over time is affected by many factors such as history of the country, cultural and community mandates, farming systems, and public policy. There are notable differences in the agricultural extension systems operating around the globe. The purpose of this paper was to review the agricultural extension systems in Nepal, India, and the United States Methodology: A comprehensive review of literature was conducted to identify the similarities and differences in the agricultural extension systems in the stated countries. Relevant documents used included creation legislation for each country, global analysis from organizations such as Food and Agricultural Organization, and peer-reviewed journal articles. The authors’ extension experiences working in the stated countries also provided inputs to develop this paper. Results: Differences were observed in the area of extension models, program delivery, outcomes assessment, and research–extension interface among agricultural extension systems compared in this study. The program delivery mechanism of Nepal and India was mainly driven by ‘top down expert model’. Contrary to this, in the United States, extension was operating under a learning model. In all three countries many small scale-farmers felt