This Occasional Paper presents the findings of a global review of farm management extension services. The specific intentions were to: (i) assess the current status of farm management training and extension programmes; (ii) identify constraints and issues; (iii) review the performance and impact; and (iv) propose recommendations for the improved provision of farm management extension advice.

Managing the ability of agriculture to meet rising global demand and to respond to the changes and opportunities will require good policy, sustained investments, and innovation - not business as usual. Investments in public Research and Development, extension, education, and their links with one another have elicited high returns and pro-poor growth, but these investments alone will not elicit innovation at the pace or on the scale required by the intensifying and proliferating challenges confronting agriculture. Experience indicates that aside from a strong capacity in Research and Development, the ability to innovate is often related to collective action, coordination, the exchange of knowledge among diverse actors, the incentives and resources available to form partnerships and develop businesses, and conditions that make it possible for farmers or entrepreneurs to use the innovations. While consensus is developing about what is meant by 'innovation' and 'innovation system', no detailed blueprint exists for making agricultural innovation happen at a given time, in a given place, for a given result. The AIS approach that looks at these multiple conditions and relationships that promote innovation in agriculture, has however moved from a concept to a sub-discipline with principles of analysis and action. AIS investments must be specific to the context, responding to the stage of development in a particular country and agricultural sector, especially the AIS. This sourcebook contributes to identifying, designing, and implementing the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen AIS and to promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth. It emphasizes the lessons learned, benefits and impacts, implementation issues, and prospects for replicating or expanding successful practices. The information in this sourcebook derives from approaches that have been tested at different scales in different contexts. It reflects the experiences and evolving understanding of numerous individuals and organizations concerned with agricultural innovation, including the World Bank. This information is targeted to the key operational staff in international and regional development agencies and national governments who design and implement lending projects and to the practitioners who design thematic programs and technical assistance packages. The sourcebook can also be an important resource for the research community and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Farm management extension is concerned with the development of management strategies and skills among farmers for improved decision-making in the use of resources and linking farmers to markets. With the increasing market-orientation of farming, the decisions taken by farmers are more complex; for farms to compete they must be run as a business. This creates a demand for specialized extension support. To be successful farmers need the skills to produce what the market wants and what satisfies consumers. The growing importance of specialization in farm management is to support farmers in this work.

The framework of development; Understanding extension; Social and cultural factors in extension; Extension and comunication; Extension methods; The extension agent; The planning and evaluation of extension programmes; Extension an special target groups.

This Occasional Paper presents the study findings of approaches to the design and delivery of business services to farmers and rural entrepreneurs. Interventions aimed at business service provision and designed and developed by donors have commonly been termed Business Development Services (BDS). BDS has largely focused on reducing poverty by raising the incomes of farmers and rural entrepreneurs. The term business services, refers to the range of non financial services provided to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) at various stages in their development. They embody a market development approach to the provision of support services1. This Occasional Paper presents findings from a study conducted on approaches to the design and delivery of business services to farmers and rural entrepreneurs. The paper is based upon an extensive literature review of BDS and other business-related service interventions, supported by selected case studies in Asia and Africa. Business services are aimed at assisting farmers and rural entrepreneurs to overcome internal and external constraints to their farm business start-up, development and performance. Contained within the broad concept are such activities as group training, individual counselling, advice, the development of new commercial entities, technology development and transfer, information provision, business links and policy advocacy.

This volume seeks a better understanding of the issues and options involved in the generation and transfer of technology to poor small farmers. It is intended to provide a fresh opportunity to develop guidelines for the future design and implementation of rural development investment projects.

Volume 3 of this series of the Handbooks in Economics follows on from the previous two volumes by focusing on the fundamental concepts of agricultural economics. The first part of the volume examines the developments in human resources and technology mastery. The second part follows on by considering the processes and impact of invention and innovation in this field. The effects of market forces are examined in the third part, and the volume concludes by analysing the economics of our changing natural resources, including the past effects of climate change.Overall this volume forms a comprehensive and accessible survey of the field of agricultural economics and is recommended reading for anyone with an interest, either academic or professional, in this area.*Part of the renown Handbooks in Economics series*Contributors are leaders of their areas*International in scope and comprehensive in coverage