Role of Extension in Agricultural Technology Transfer: A Critical Review

Technology transfer (TT), or transfer of technology (TOT), is an integral part of the extension process involving the transfer and spread of technical innovation and know-how to the farming population. The TOT model of the research-extension-farmer linkage is based on the tenets of DOI theory, in particular on a description of the diffusion process as a normal bell-shaped curve with farmers being placed in one of five categories according to their appearance on the curve. However, this linear model has limitations and has been severely criticized on a number of grounds, especially its assumptions about the dissemination process which raise the “issue of equality” and contribute to the “agricultural treadmill.”